Ravendale House

On Saturday we did something we’ve never done before, we went on board a Royal Navy minesweeper. HMS Grimsby was visiting her adopted port for the weekend and was open to the public between 11am and 3pm. As that is only half an hour down the road from here, we thought we’d have a look.

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When I was growing up in Halifax back in the 1960′s our house had a solid fuel fire with a fire-back boiler. I don’t know if such things even exist these days, but anyway, one day the fire-back boiler burst and water came flooding into the dining room.

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The last 10 days have been ferociously cold, with snow and ice thrown in for good measure. I’ve been doing my best to keep the birds well fed, and have also had a new feline visitor, though I’ve only actually seen him that one time.

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A couple of days ago I wrote a short post on Internet vs books, and how people of my generation tend towards the old fashioned written word. However, yesterday I found myself in a situation where the Internet became an invaluable tool.

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I once tried to explain to my dad, who must have been in his late 80′s at the time, what the Internet was. I likened it to the biggest library in the world, that had every book ever written, or the biggest encyclopedia in the world, that contained every fact known to man, and all of it just a ‘click’ away at your fingertips. Whether he really understood I don’t know.

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I’ve always been a huge fan of the Antiques Roadshow, I suppose we all harbour dreams of finding a valuable heirloom in the attic, but if we can’t find one ourselves, how nice it is to watch and share in the good fortune of others.

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I should have done my Big Garden Birdwatch today instead of yesterday. This morning at 8.30am the bird feeder was alive with activity.

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This year, for the second time, I’ve taken part in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch. Here are my results.

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At the end of last year I wrote what I thought would be my last post on the subject of the pub at the end of the garden. How wrong could I be? Things are beginning to happen.

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It occurred to me the other day that in all my ramblings I’ve only ever written about ivy in passing, and I think it probably deserves a post of it’s own. It’s simple really, my advice on ivy would be, “Don’t do it!”

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